Hello! I'm David Moorfield Frank, Teaching Associate Professor in University Honors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with affiliations in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

My research focuses on values and ethics in the environmental sciences. I earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Texas in 2012, with a dissertation on the philosophy of conservation biology ("Values and Decisions in Biological Conservation"), and went on to hold postdoctoral positions at New York University, the University of North Carolina, and Brown University. Along the way I have explored collaborations with environmental scientists and taught courses in environmental ethics, research ethics, and philosophy of science. I have been particularly interested in scientific and philosophical controversies surrounding invasive species, the ethics, politics, and economics of climate change, and the ethics of environmental health research, among other topics!

In the classroom, I now primarily teach in UTK's Chancellor's Honors Program, where I have the pleasure of guiding early undergraduates through team-based interdisciplinary research, design, and innovation projects that propose solutions to complex problems. It is deeply rewarding to facilitate student team discovery and innovation. Student teams use design thinking, ethical reasoning, and multiple methods to deeply understand and propose changes to the designed systems that shape our campus, the city of Knoxville, and other places in Tennessee.

If any of this interests you, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Whether you are a student looking to discuss ideas, a colleague exploring shared questions, or a potential collaborator, please feel free to email me at the address above.